Libyan Rebels Ask for Help, Even From Israel

Libya needs any help it can get from the international community, including from Israel, a spokesman for the opposition to Muammar Gadhafi’s regime told Haaretz Tuesday by phone from London.

When asked what sort of assistance Libya required, Ahmad Shabani, the founder of Libya’s Democratic Party, said: “We are asking Israel to use its influence in the international community to end the tyrannical regime of Gadhafi and his family.”

Shabani, 43, is the son of a former minister in the cabinet of Libya’s king, who was deposed in 1969. After the military coup led by Gadhafi, the Shabani family fled Libya and settled in London.